Discussion

Maru Sushi and Yakitori in Arcadia review.

We just returned from dinner @ Maru Sushi and Yakitori in Arcadia. We were looking for a place to have yakitori. We're big fans of Yakitori-Ya on Sawtelle and Olympic. Unfortunately we will have to drive 20 miles across town to get our yakitori fix in W LA.

We had grilled rice ball, and the rice was mushy and mealy. Too much water in the rice. I'm Asian and have cooked rice my entire life. Our five year-old can make better rice with our electric rice cooker. It is truly a bad sign if an Asian restaurant can't manage to cook rice.

The service was wonderful-- very attentive and friendly waitresses. We were the only dine-in patrons for the entire hour that we were there on a Thursday evening. Maybe we should have taken the empty restaurant as a sign to stay away...

The sushi chef and waitresses were all ethnic Chinese and told us that the owner was Japanese. The grill and fry cooks were Latino guys. We didn't see any Japanese chefs in the restaurant.

Sorry to hear about your experience. I've passed by Maru many times and glancing in, I could tell that it was not an authentic Japanese Yakitori specialist. Here's my review of Shin Sen Gumi in Monterey Park.

Definitely highly-recommended, and it's great to have some authentic Japanese food in the SG Valley. :)